Short answer: Florida has one castle that was built to fight, the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, the oldest masonry fort in the continental U.S. Everything else people call a Florida castle was built to live in, sleep in or sell tickets to: Coral Castle, Vizcaya, Ca’ d’Zan, the Biltmore Hotel, the Don CeSar and Cinderella Castle.
I’ve sorted them that way below, because it tells you what you’ll actually do there.
I rewrote this list in October 2026.
The old one opened with a made-up story about getting thrown out of a gated community, and it said things about the Biltmore’s pool that I couldn’t confirm.
This version sticks to what each place’s history actually says.
Built to fight
Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine
If you see one, see this one.
The Spanish laid its first stones in 1672 on the shore of Matanzas Bay, and finished the core in 1695, 23 years later.
It’s a star-shaped fort made of coquina, a rock formed from old shells bonded together, quarried nearby.
Here’s the stat I love.
English forces laid siege to it twice, in 1702 and in 1740, and it was never breached or taken by force.
It changed hands five times between Spain, Britain and the United States (plus the Confederacy during the Civil War), and every one of those handovers was peaceful.
For a second fort, head up to Amelia Island.
Fort Clinch is a brick fortress begun in 1847, and no battles were ever fought there.
It’s the centerpiece of a state park that opened in 1938.
Planning St. Augustine around the Castillo?
Start with is St. Augustine worth visiting.
Built to live in
Vizcaya, Miami
James Deering (yes, of the International Harvester fortune) spent 8 years and $15 million building this villa on Biscayne Bay, from 1914 to 1922.
He wintered there from 1916 until he died in 1925.
Today Miami-Dade County owns it, and the museum covers more than 70 rooms of interiors plus 10 acres of Italian Renaissance gardens.
It has its own Metrorail station, too.
Ca’ d’Zan, Sarasota
Circus owner John Ringling and his wife Mable built their “House of John” on Sarasota Bay from 1924 to 1926.
It’s Venetian Gothic, inspired by their trips to Venice, with 56 rooms.
Ringling left it to the state of Florida along with his art museum, so you see both on one visit.
More on the city in our Sarasota guide.
Coral Castle, Miami-Dade County
This is where I draw the line between a castle and one man’s backyard, and honestly, it’s the weirdest stop on the list.
Edward Leedskalnin, a Latvian immigrant, spent more than 28 years carving about 1,100 tons of stone into walls, tables, chairs, a crescent moon and a sundial.
The pieces average 15 tons, and the biggest weighs 30.
Two things worth knowing before you go.
It isn’t coral.
It’s oolite limestone.
And the legend that he moved the stones with “reverse magnetism” doesn’t hold up: photographs and eyewitnesses show he used pulleys and simple tools.
He started it in Florida City around 1923 and moved the whole thing to its current site around 1936.
Coral Castle has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1984.
Built to sleep in
The Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables
It opened in 1926, and its tower is modeled on the Giralda in Seville.
At 315 feet it was Florida’s tallest building until 1928.
Its pool was once the largest in the world, and Johnny Weissmuller, later Tarzan, worked there as a swim instructor.
Al Capone was among its guests.
It served as a hospital in World War II and for years after, sat empty for almost 20 years once that ended in 1968, and reopened as a hotel in 1987.
It’s a National Historic Landmark.
The Don CeSar, St. Pete Beach
Its builder, Thomas Rowe, set out to build a “pink castle,” and his “Pink Lady” opened in January 1928.
It also picked up the nickname the Pink Palace.
Al Capone and F. Scott Fitzgerald stayed here too.
Hurricanes Helene and Milton closed it for months, and it reopened in March 2025.
🗼 I Wrote a Book About My Japan Travel Catastrophes!
Before I landed in Tokyo, I thought I was the “Final Boss” of international travel. Spoiler alert: I WASN’T. 😅
🚅 I boarded the wrong Shinkansen and ended up in THE WRONG CITY. I confused locals with my “expert” bowing that was more awkward than accurate. I accidentally stumbled into a high-stakes Kendo practice thinking it was a tourist show. Sound like something you’d do?
“Things I Wish I Knew Before Going to Japan” is your shortcut to avoiding ALL my cringe-worthy mistakes. ✨ Inside, you’ll find practical, LIFE-SAVING tips on etiquette, transport, money, and hidden gems that will save you time, money, and a whole lot of confusion.
Built to sell tickets
Cinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom
Pretty much everyone has seen this one.
Done in July 1971, it’s 189 feet tall if you count from the bottom of the moat.
Cinderella Castle looks bigger than that because of forced perspective: the stones, windows and doors get smaller as they go up.
Weirdly, there are no bricks.
It’s a steel frame, and there’s a suite hidden in the upper levels.
If you’ve booked Disney, you’ll see it anyway.
My pick
The Castillo for real history, Coral Castle for pure strangeness, and Vizcaya if you’ve got half a day in Miami.
For more ideas, browse our Florida travel and itineraries guide.
